The anchorage adjacent to the southern shores of York Island is easily accessible from the Western Florida ICW, BUT you don’t want to be caught here in fresh southern, southeastern or southwestern winds.

I have anchored near here (closer to the inlet into St. James City) with a slight breeze all night and under a full moon and it was fantastic.
Very little boat traffice going in and out of the inlet. A Sheriff’s Deputy did check up on us in the morning asking how long we were going to be there. Not sure what her motives were because she never asked to come aboard.
She was seen checking out another sailboat nearby.
Donn Brown
Namaste – W27

If you need a bit more shelter, you can, with 5′ draft, follow the marked channel up into St James City, and, keeping the dredged canals to your starboard, proceed straight ahead into Long Cut. Good anchoring in about 7 to 8 ft for some distance past the last north-south canal, but don’t venture in too far. Right now you’ll see a couple of sailboats in there, but they’re really shoal draft, and I would stay about half the distance to them.
Captain Mike Smith

Click Here To View the Western Florida Cruisers’ Net Anchorage Directory Listing For York Island